The flow front was reaching the base of the pali today, burning vegetation in the adjacent kipuka. The front consisted of ʻaʻā that was fed by a narrow channel extending down the steep section of the pali. Photo taken Wednesday, June 29, 2016 courtesy of USGS/HVO

A mango tree is surrounded by the ʻaʻā flow. Photo taken Wednesday, June 29, 2016 courtesy of USGS/HVO

The flow front as it approaches another mango tree. Photo taken Wednesday, June 29, 2016 courtesy of USGS/HVO

The flow front was supplied by a narrow channelized section on the steep portion of the pali. Photo taken Wednesday, June 29, 2016 courtesy of USGS/HVO

A close-up of clinker at the flow front. Photo taken Wednesday, June 29, 2016 courtesy of USGS/HVO

Another view of the flow front, contrasting the hot fluid core of the flow (red) with the brittle clinker (black) that forms the flow exterior. Photo taken Wednesday, June 29, 2016 courtesy of USGS/HVO

The active lava flow from PuÊ»u ʻŌʻō was on the slope near the top of the PÅ«lama pali Tuesday (June 28), one of the steep escarpments on KÄ«lauea’s southeast flank, and had transitioned into a channelized Ê»aʻā flow. The view is to the northwest. Photo taken Tuesday, June 28, 2016 courtesy of USGS/HVO

This photo shows a closer view of the front of the ʻaʻā flow. Photo taken Tuesday, June 28, 2016 courtesy of USGS/HVO

An HVO geologist photographs the front of the channelized ʻaʻā flow. Photo taken Tuesday, June 28, 2016 courtesy of USGS/HVO

This photo is a view from the edge of the Ê»aʻā flow, looking up slope at the flow’s channels. Photo taken Tuesday, June 28, 2016 courtesy of USGS/HVO

Up close view of the front of the ʻaʻā flow. Photo taken Tuesday, June 28, 2016 courtesy of USGS/HVO

Close view of ʻaʻā blocks in the channel of the flow. Photo taken Tuesday, June 28, 2016 courtesy of USGS/HVO

MEDIA RELEASE

The active lava flow from Puʻu ʻŌʻō is making its way over the Pulama Pali along the western boundary of the former Royal Gardens Subdivision. The lava flow does not pose a threat to any community.

To maintain public safety and to preserve the emergency road or Highway 130, the County of Hawai‘i will open the emergency road to lava viewing on June 30, 2016. Lava viewing along the three mile stretch of the County’s portion of the emergency road is permitted between the hours of 3-9 p.m., daily. Vehicular traffic on the emergency road will be limited to local residents and emergency vehicles.

Security guards will be posted on the emergency road or Highway 130 before the entrance to Kalapana Gardens to provide lava viewing information and to direct parking. As in previous lava viewing events, visitors will be asked to park in marked areas near the end of the paved portion of Highway 130. Again, it is approximately three (3) miles from this parking area to the end of the County portion of the emergency road, and vehicular traffic on the emergency road will be limited to local residents and emergency vehicles.

Visitors are reminded that the emergency road is a gravel road that traverses over older lava flows and ends at the National Park Service boundary. Visitors are also reminded to prepare for the trek with proper footwear, sun screen, warm clothing, and water.

The County has established lava flow viewing areas along Highway 130 as far back as 2001 and most recently in Pāhoa in 2014.

Our goal is to maintain public safety, protecting the interests of residents, and the protection of the emergency road or Highway 130. We ask for your patience and kokua.

The lava flow southeast of Pu‘u ‘O‘o continues to advance downslope and is now progressing down the pali. The flow is following the eastern boundary of Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, and the western boundary of the abandoned Royal Gardens subdivision. Although the majority of the flow activity is pahoehoe the fast-moving flow front is channelized ‘a‘a. The leading tip of the flow is burning vegetation in a kipuka. Video taken Tuesday, June 28, 2016 courtesy of USGS/HVO

This small-scale map shows Kīlauea’s active East Rift Zone lava flow field in relation to the southeastern part of the Island of Hawaiʻi. The area of the active flow field on June 23 is shown in pink, while widening and advancement of the active flow field as mapped on June 28 is shown in red. Older Puʻu ʻŌʻō lava flows (1983–2016) are shown in gray.
The blue lines over the PuÊ»u ʻŌʻō flow field are steepest-descent paths calculated from a 2013 digital elevation model (DEM), while the blue lines on the rest of the map are steepest-descent paths calculated from a 1983 DEM (for calculation details, see http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2007/1264/). Steepest-descent path analysis is based on the assumption that the DEM perfectly represents the earth’s surface. DEMs, however, are not perfect, so the blue lines on this map can be used to infer only approximate flow paths. The base map is a partly transparent 1:24,000-scale USGS digital topographic map draped over the 1983 10-m digital elevation model (DEM).

This satellite image was captured on Monday, June 27, by the Advanced Land Imager instrument onboard NASA’s Earth Observing 1 satellite. The image is provided courtesy of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Although this is a false-color image, the color map has been chosen to mimic what the human eye would expect to see. Bright red pixels depict areas of very high temperatures and show active lava. White areas are clouds.
The image shows continued advancement of the flow towards the southeast. The flow front is progressing down the pali, along the western portion of the abandoned Royal Gardens subdivision and along the eastern boundary of HawaiÊ»i Volcanoes National Park. Over the past few days, the flow has moved at a rate of about 300 meters per day (0.2 miles per day) – an increase over the rate last week and likely due to the steeper slope on the pali.